Fred,

There once was a list of hilarious answers written by high school students on history exams. On of the kids wrote that "Magellan circumcised the Earth with his hundred foot clipper." Apparently, my joke sailed over the heads of a few here.

Platoonist,

Thanks. I think that it helps to illustrate my original point. I keep atlases and Google Earth handy whenever I attempt to play any historical game.

In that case, I would either send naval reinforcements to Cape Town from the US and Australia, via the Perth - Cape Town route and attempt to run convoys in the face of resistance, or simply not run convoys in that area until it was safe to do so. Then, I suppose, run Abadan fuel the long way around ...

Dewey,

That may well be the case. If so, it makes as much sense as sending convoys from Abadan to Colombo or Bombay via the Gibraltar Strait.

Brad,

No, I am simply wondering why an off-map route that is available in the latter half of '43 was not available from the start. It's just a minor part of the game that has always bugged me. I have no problem with the layout of the map; just with that particular movement design choice. Closing ...

My choice of words and my spelling is deliberate. Humor is lost on some folks.

I guess I'm getting schooled on the arrangement of the AE map. For fifteen years I never noticed that the game map had been designed for ease of play. Shame on me. I will endeavor to get my "mind right." Ditto for my ...

I was beginning to doubt my memory of maps, so I took a look at a map of Abadan and the larger portion of the world around it. Sea travel from Abadan to Cape Town involves a long voyage SOUTH, then a short turn to the WEST. At no point do ships moving along that route go anywhere near the Suez Canal ...

RJ, thank you for the link to the "Sydney" page. I enjoyed reading that.

I have no problem taking risks in crossing any body of water in AE. Travel from Arabia to Malta, Tobruk, Gibraltar or even Alexandria ought to be restricted as designed. However, the off-map route from Arabia to South Africa ...

My fondest AE wish is that I can run a tanker TF from Abadan to Cape Town off-map in '42, then to Australia, or wherever else I need fuel. Is that gamey? If so, wouldn't it be gamey in the later war? I know -- the Axis had free use of the Suez Canal until mid-'43. (Please don't be triggered by my ...

Thanks for the information.

My question is why a direct, early-war, off-map lane from Abadan and Aden to Cape Town was not included in the original design. I have no problem running convoys across the map. ANY sea travel was dangerous throughout the war. It's just a niggling AE issue. I may have to ...

I may not have been clear enough in my original post . Sea travel from Abadan to Cape Town has never required sailing through the Mediterranean. I know how it works in AE, and how it worked in real life. I don't think that there ever was a significant Axis naval presence off of eastern Africa. I ...

I am an old hand with Grigsby's Pacific games, starting with "Pacific War" in '92. I've invested hundreds of hours in the titles that followed over the years.

One question about AE, to which I haven't yet seen an answer, remains. Why is off-board travel between the Persian Gulf ("Guff," in Alabama ...